Jeremy: Full time skippers have the edge

12:58 PM Fri 3 Dec 2010 GMT

'Adam Minoprio vs Jeremy Koo. Qualifying session 3 at Monsoon Cup. Photo Subzero Images-WMRT' Subzero Images -Monsoon Cup © Click Here to view large photo He may not have achieved his targets, but Jeremy Koo (MAS) Koo Racing Team-Evernew will come away from the 2010 Monsoon Cup a better sailor.

The 29-year-old, who is competing in his third Monsoon Cup but first as skipper, has lost 10 of his 11 matches against the world’s best sailors with one more match left against four-time World Champion Dato’ Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing.

Prior to the competition, Jeremy, who crewed for his sister Tiffany in the 2006 and 2007 Monsoon Cup, said he wanted to avoid last place and/or win at least two matches to beat his sister’s record of being the only Malaysian to have won a match in the Monsoon Cup.

Tiffany won one match in 2006 while no other Malaysian skipper, be it Nurul Ain Md Isa or Hazwan Hazim Dermawan have been able to better that.

“I knew it was going to be difficult to achieve my targets but I always think positive and wanted to create some records. Having said that, the gap between the qualifiers and the full time sailors is obvious for all to see,” said the Malaysian Match Racing Champion.

Jeremy was referring to the positions of Phil Robertson (NZL) WAKA Racing and Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing and who are 10th and 11th respectively. Robertson qualified for the Monsoon Cup by winning the Asian Match Racing Championship while Swinton made the cut from the Sunseeker Australia Cup.

The other nine skippers competing in the Monsoon Cup – Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team, Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing, Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN, Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team , Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar, Jesper Radich (DEN) Gaastra Racing Team – Francesco Bruni (ITA) Team Azzurra, Peter Gilmour (AUS) YANMAR Racing and Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team – all regularly sail on the World Match Racing Tour.

Meanwhile, defending World and Monsoon Cup Champion Minoprio crashed out of this year’s event when he finished with a 4-7 record, thus ending his chances of retaining the world title.

Tour leader Richard qualified for the quarter-finals with a 5-6 record and this result means that Williams, who leads the round robin with an 8-1 record, cannot overtake him in the standings. This leaves Ainslie and Mirsky as the only two skippers who can prevent Richard from winning his first world crown.

Monsoon Cup Round Robin Results (After 15 Flights)
1. Ian Williams (GBR) Team GAC Pindar 8-1
2. Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN 8-2
3. Jesper Radich (DEN) Gaastra Racing Team 8-2
4. Francesco Bruni (ITA) Azzurra 6-3
5. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) Hansen Global Team 6-4
6. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 6-5
7. Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team 5-6
8. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 4-5
9. Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing 4-7
10. Phil Robertson (NZL) ETNZ/WAKA Racing 2-7
11. Keith Swinton (AUS) Black Swan Racing
12. Jeremy Koo (MAS) Koo Racing Team-Evernew

by Monsoon Cup 2010 Media